Okay, so a LOT has happened since I lasted posted….sorry. They just keep us sooo busy it’s hard to find time here to ride my bike over to the coffee shop to get on the Internet.
Anyways, our project is really coming along. The other group (they are building a parking structure at the youth center) should actually finish their project this week (a week early!) We have already built up four walls of cement bricks and pretty much finished the foundation of our restroom. We will have to put the roof up soon and do the plumbing part. Oh and by the way….we found out very quickly that toilets in Vietnam are VERY different from the ones in the States. They have these things that we have been calling “Squatters.” You literally squat over this hole thingy. At one particular placce, it was just a flat, cement floor that you were suppose to go on and then wash away your stuff with the water bucket. Let’s just say that held it that day! Luckily, our hotel/guest house has the kind of toilets that we are use to. I’m not sure what kind of toilets we will be putting in ours though. When we finish all the construction, I am hoping that they will allow us to paint some sort of mural on the side. It sounds like the people here don’t really care for that sort of stuff, so we will see…
This weekend was really interesting and fun. We had a tour that started at 8 in the morning (late for us!) and took a bus to a bunch of different religious and war relics. We actually got to see an old church that had been completely bombed but was still standing.
We then went into a Vietnamese cemetery. I know, it sounds kinda strange that we would be going into one, but they are actually very beautiful. In the Vietnamese culture, people really worship their ancestors. They all have these different shrines in their houses and spend TONS of money building the grave site that will hold most of their family members (think Mulan only a little different). Our leader, Alice, told us that her parents use to fight over sending money to help build the grave or getting their son braces. Each grave looks like its own mini Asian temple with intricate colors, dragons, and details.
After that, we went to this bombed chapel where Mother Mary was said to have been seen (even the Vatican confirms it). We also went to the DMZ (De-militarized zone). This was the dividing barrier between the North and South of Vietnam and acted as the boundary and MAJOR war zone during the war. Alice told us that the equivalent bomb power of 7 Hiroshima Atomic Bombs had been dropped here.
Then we were off to the tunnels. This was SUPER cool! In the war, about 400 people lived underground for 6 years!!!!! They dug these MASSIVE tunnels that spanned miles and miles and housed hundreds of families. They even had a school room, bathroom, baby nursery, and meeting area. The tunnels protected these people from the bombs that constantly fell from the sky (America never even knew these people were living underground). We got to walk around throughout some of the tunnels. The tunnels weren’t super tall, but I couldn’t get over how deep in the ground they went! We have now had 1st-hand experience digging through the concrete-like soil, and I can NOT imagine digging tunnels more than twenty underground!
Finally, we ended up in my favorite part of all: the beach! This was the most gorgeous beach I have even seen, and, of course, my camera decide to die just as we were pulling up (luckily others got some good shots). There were VERY few people on the beach. Lots of small, “Asian”-style boats had been pulled ashore. Devyn and I and a few other boys got our bathing suits on and ran into the water. It was the perfect temperature and not too salty either. Dev and I went on a walk as the sun was setting, and then Max and I went on a run as the food cooked. SO fun! Also, the place we were eating was RIGHT on the beach. They literally pulled these bamboo mats up onto the beach and we all sat on the ground and ate fresh crab and shrimp! YUM
Of course, on the ride home, Mushroom and I HAD to start rapping! It’s our thing now! We sing everything….every time we talk, we rap or sing (aka: I’m going to the bathroom la la la) J
Anyways, the next day we had a free day. A bunch of us rode our bikes 45 minutes (VERY LONG and that’s only one-way!) to Tien’s house! She lives in a small village and her family was SO excited to see us. They have this cute, little house that has chickens and a small cement pond in the backyard. We all got to catch the catfish in her pond. Her dad would hit them on the head with a mallet (sorry Kayla) and then we would slide them onto skewers to roast over this cool oven/fire thing, and eat them with our lunch. Her mom and sister made us the yummy meal and we all ate in the traditional fashion: all sitting cross-legged on the ground. Her dad is an Oriental Medicine doctor and had all these viles and glass containers full of bizarre, dried up plants and fruits. It was really funny when he should us this one leaf that he makes a tea with and is the natural “Viagra!”
This week has already gotten off to a great start. After work last night, we all rode our bikes to Phong’s house after buying food from the market. We had this WAY TOO SPICY noodle dish with pig ears and then this stuff called sticky rice (my new favorite-it’s just like the name sounds only it is a different plant than normal rice and that’s why it’s stickier).
Everyone is really excited for this weekend because we will be traveling to the city where they all go to college. Mushroom is going to show me her dorm and take me around on her motorbike. We are also supposed to go out “boozing” (what they call drinking). Should be fun….
HERE ARE SOME OTHER RANDOM THINGS:
For the past week and a half, me, Bao and Juan Pablo (Duke kids), have been playing soccer with the local kids every night at 5. This is totally the coolest place I have ever played soccer, and it is SO much fun! We ride our bikes to the town square that has a really open area where lots of boys play soccer. Lots of people come out to watch us play. On one side of us is the river and on the other side is this huge Asian-looking temple! It turns out, I’m actually pretty famous! In our school teaching, I have had different boys come up to me and know my name and ask if I am playing soccer that night, and I’ve never even meet them! It turns out that no girls here would ever play with the boys, so they all think it’s cool (I hope) that I play!
On another note, I have started going on runs during the down times at our work site. We are starting to get to more of the technical stuff while building the restroom and sometimes find that only two of the ten people are actually needed for some particular task. So I have started running down the village roads, through the jungle, with anyone that wants to join. They are such beautiful, long runs. I run on this relatively flat, dirt road with the mountains in front of me, a river beside me, bare-foot farmers tending to their wet, green rice patties, and roaming chickens and cows chillin around me. The village people usually stare or wave, and I really can’t blame them.
Ummm…another thing that I thought was so interesting was when my roommate, Mushroom, was put in charge of bringing the first-aid kit to the work site each day. That night, she read the entire first-aid manual/handbook and checked all the supplies inside of it to make sure they were there and to know what they look liked. I guess I thought that this was so strange because no American would sit down and read that thing. I mean, I would just assume that when the time comes, I would just open some things, rub em on, and put a band-aid on it. I think this really points to the Vietnamese’s strong work ethic and desire to do their own assigned tasks correctly.
Also, something else that I find a little strange is that on the works sites, almost all of the Vietnamese kids and ALL of our on-site, Vietnamese construction workers wear flip-flops. I mean, we are hammering away at things, mixing cement, carrying bricks, and all this stuff, and they all do it with practically bare feet! Pretty impressive, especially since no one seems to ever get hurt!
Off to play soccer now! More to come…..
xo
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